A Baby Behind the Scenes
Whenever we are in Haiti there are always about 20 things going on at a time. It ranges from meetings with people, kids being punished, kids being praised, school events, employee issues, people needing help, a 1 and 2-year-old running around in the misdt of it, and a variety of other things that pop up on any given day at any given time. Some things we share and are very public about, some things we keep to ourselves. I wanted to share a story today about something that happened here a few weeks ago that has been hard to get out of my mind.
Some of you reading this will know who I am talking about when I say Lener. He is Marjorie’s husband (Marjorie is the cook for the kids) and our right hand man. He drives for us, shops for us, and pretty much does anything else we ask him to. About 3 weeks ago, Lener came in first thing in the morning looking exhausted. We asked him if he was ok and he proceeded to tell us that last night at midnight a baby was born in his house. A young woman who’d been sick came to their house and asked them to pray for her. They and a few friends prayed for her for several hours and at some point (the story is still a little unclear) realized she was pregnant (she says she never knew) and at about midnight Marjorie delivered a baby boy. The mother refused to acknowledge that he was hers and has yet to hold him or even look at him. She stayed at Marjorie and Lener’s for a few days to recover but has since left. Marjorie and Lener have been caring for the baby ever since. Marjorie is 25 years old and has 3 children of her own. They are not in a position to be able to care for this baby nor do they want to but they have been doing it because that is the kind of people they are. Of course he has to be bottle fed so she has had to learn to do that and also find formula. She’s been boiling water at the kids house everyday to take home to feed him with. His umbilical chord got infected (because it was cut at their house by them) and so she took him on a motorcycle to a doctor to get medicine. He is sleeping in their bed with them at night and being bitten by mosquitos so she asked for a net (we gave her one). Both Marjorie and Lener have resigned themselves to the fact that unless something changes, they will be raising this child but it is clear this is not what they want.
As we have watched this from the sidelines helping in small ways where we could, so many things have come to mind. In America, the mom would have had the option to put him up for adoption and he most likely would have been adopted into a loving family by now. He would have clean water to have with his bottles and his care-givers would have some form of public transportation or vehicle they could use to take him to a doctor besides a motorcycle. He would not be sleeping in a house where mosquitoes carrying diseases are free to enter and bite him and most likely the climate in which he slept would be controlled instead of the 90 degree heat we have been sleeping in recently. Although possibly his birth mom would also have opted to not have pre-natal care, once he was born he would have received quality medical care by doctors with years of training. Whoever was carrying for him would have easy access to formula, diapers, wipes, and clothing. Lener had to go to Port au Prince to find all of these things at double the price.
I could go on and on but I don’t think the stark differences between these 2 countries we live in would ever end. Having been through it recently in America with both Sophie and Elijah then watching this go on with this baby here has been very eye opening. We are praying for this sweet baby boy and what’s to become of him. We know that God has a plan for his future. Please join us in praying for him and his future.